It felt strange to realise that Saddam Hussein wasn’t being painted as the chief baddie inHouse Of Saddam(BBC2).

That dubious honour went to his first-born son, Uday, portrayed as a spoilt brat of the highest order who killed for fun and who missed no opportunity to abuse the privileges that had been handed to him.

Played with chilling dead-eyed fecklessness by Philip Arditti, Uday’s story added a timeless Dynasty-style dimension to the Saddam story.

Replace the battle fatigues and berets with togas and sandals and we could have been right back in Ancient Rome, with Nero fiddling while the city burned.

Only this time it was Baghdad caught in the grip of a rapidly unravelling ego. History just repeats itself again and again and again.